PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season with big savings from big stores, but if fighting crowds and big-box stores isn’t your thing, you can always do your holiday shopping at small businesses.
Saturday, November 26 is the 5th annual Small Business Saturday and it’s expected to be the biggest yet. It’s another year with the Little Boxes campaign in progress, encouraging Portland shoppers to try new and small places to buy gifts.
Portland was recently name the number 10 city to shop local.
Jared Mees and his wife started Tender Loving Empire in 2007 and they now operate stores on Lovejoy, the West End, Hawthorne and NW 23rd. Over 300 local artists are represented in their shops.
Mees says Small Business Saturday is an important time for shoppers to really think about where their money is going.
“It’s really just about the community that small businesses represent. Ultimately it’s about keeping money in your community and with people you know and with people that you appreciate and people that appreciate you,” Mees said. “It’s a pretty simple exchange, if you buy something from someone you know, they’ll spend money, ideally with you.”
